The present invention relates generally to cooking food, and more particularly to a cooking appliance and cooking system.
It is known for a food company to deliver food bought over the Internet. It is also known that cooking recipes may be found on the Internet. Cooking appliances include, without limitation, electric and gas cooktops, ovens, and ranges (i.e., an appliance containing both a cooktop and an oven) and microwave ovens. An oven is on the market which uses an upper and a lower halogen lamp and/or microwaves for cooking and which includes a computer. This oven comes with over 100 preset recipe cooking programs which automatically set the cooking time, the power level of the upper halogen light, the power level of the lower halogen light, and the power level of the microwaves depending on computer-prompted user-inputs for the type of food (e.g., chicken), the specific kind of food (e.g., boneless), the total weight of food (e.g., one pound), the number of pieces of food (e.g., two), and the desired doneness (e.g., well done). The user can input up to thirty additional recipe cooking programs by program number (e.g., one), cooking time (e.g., ten minutes), the power level of the upper halogen light (e.g., six), the power level of the lower halogen light (e.g., seven), and the power level of the microwaves (e.g., four). The oven then will automatically cook the food and alert the user when the cooking is completed. What is needed is a cooking appliance which makes cooking more convenient.
In an expression of an embodiment of the invention, a cooking appliance includes a food-heating unit and an appliance computer. The food-heating unit has a computer-controlled temperature controller, and the appliance computer contains an executable program. The program inputs a cooking recipe including a food list, pre-cooking directions, and a cooking temperature schedule. The appliance computer displays the food list and the pre-cooking directions to a user and outputs a signal representing the cooking temperature schedule to the temperature controller of the food-heating unit during execution of the program. In one design, the appliance computer is an Internet-accessing appliance computer, and the cooking recipe is an Internet-downloaded cooking recipe. In another design, the program of the appliance computer inputs a user profile and modifies the cooking recipe based on the inputted user profile.
In another expression of an embodiment of the invention, a cooking system includes a host computer and a cooking appliance. The host computer contains cooking recipes each including a food list, pre-cooking directions, and a cooking temperature schedule. The cooking appliance includes a food-heating unit and an appliance computer. The food-heating unit has a computer-controlled temperature controller, the appliance computer can be linked to the host computer, and the appliance computer contains an executable program. The program inputs one of the cooking recipes from the host computer. The appliance computer displays the food list and the pre-cooking directions of the one cooking recipe to a user and outputs a signal representing the cooking temperature schedule of the one cooking recipe to the temperature controller of the food-heating unit during execution of the program. In one design, the appliance computer is an Internet-accessing appliance computer, the host computer is an Internet-accessible host computer, and the cooking recipe is an Internet-downloaded cooking recipe. In another design, the appliance computer includes an input/output portion for ordering food listed in a cooking recipe""s food list from a grocery computer of a food supplier.
Several benefits and advantages are derived from the invention. Having a cooking appliance which downloads cooking recipes from the Internet and which automatically heats the food as required by the cooking recipe makes cooking more convenient by having virtually instant access to an unlimited number of cooking recipes and by having automatic control of the heating of the food. Using a cooking appliance to order recipe-required food over the Internet makes food shopping easier. Having a cooking appliance automatically modify a cooking recipe based on a user profile saves a user from having to manually alter each recipe based on personal taste (e.g., more salt) or health concerns (e.g., less salt).